Floor rack hinge



v. E. WEST FLOOR RACK HINGE Filed Aug. 31, 1945 Aug. 19, l`947.

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Patented Aug. 19, 1947 FLOOR RACK HINGE Victor E. West, Chicago, Ill.,assigner to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago,Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application August 31, 1945, Serial No.613,816

(Cl. IIE-422') i Claims. l

This invention relates to railway refrigerator cars and moreparticularly to the iioor construction for refrigerator cars of theoverhead bunker type, but the invention is utilizable in railwayrefrigerator cars of other types.

The conventional refrigerator car floor is of wood with insulationthereunder and may be lined with a metal floor sheet to aid in keep-ingthe wood and insulation dry. A gutter is formed at substantially thejuncture of the floor with each side wall and a drain is providedtherefor to carry the liquid outside o-f the car. One side of the gutteris joined to the flue sheet in a manner to provide a watertight joint.The floor racks for such cars comprises a plurality of preferablytransversely extending spaced stringers to which are attached spacedlongitudinally disposed slats extending from end to end of the car. Saidracks are hinged to the car so that they may he raised against the sidewalls to thereby permit cleaning of the floor as by flushing with ahose, or otherwise, as preferred.

The principal object of the invention is to associate and arrange theelements of said hinge so that they cannot become disconnected when thefloor rack is in upright position, and which may be readily disassembledwhen necessary.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hinge structurefor said racks which will not be in the path of any water in the gutteror on the floor, thereby reducing corrosion of said elements to theminimum.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in thefollowing description thereof.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing forming part of thisapplication, and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a partial vertical section through the juncture of arefrigerator car oor and wall embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the hinge structure showing its relationto the floor rack, gutter and side posts.

In the drawings the usual parts of a railway LA:

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adapted for use with overhead bunkers, the side wall iiues 'I conductingchilled air from a refrigerant compartment adjacent the car roof to thespace 4 between the floor and floor rack 2.

The oor of the car comprises a metallic sheet I2; sub-floor I3;insulation material I4 and lower metallic sheet I5. A gutter I1 isformed in the floor of plate material, located at the juncture of thefloor and wall and is provided with an outer wall I8 which extendsupwardly adjacent the posts 8 and the upper end of which wall I8underlaps the bottom edge I9 of the flue sheet 1, which edge I9 isturned down over wall I8 in plane therewith and secured thereto as bywelding or otherwise. The gutter is provided with an upwardly extendinginner wall 2| provided with a laterally extending flange 22 underlappingthe floor sheet I2 and secured thereto. The gutter is preferablyinclined and provided with a drain 23 for carrying the water whichcollects in said gutter outside of the car.

The oor rack comprises a plurality of spaced transversely disposedstringers 3 of wood, such as 2 x 4. Longitudinally extending spacedslats 2 are secured to the upper edge of the stringers to form thelading supporting rack. It will be understood that the entire floor rackfor the car is made up of a plurality of sections and each section ishinged to the side wall and extends to the approximate longitudinalcenter of the car so that each section may be raised against the walland the floor then cleaned as by flushing with a hose or otherwise.

It is desirable that the hinge structure for said rack sections bedesigned and applied to the car and rack so that when the rack is innormal lading supporting position there will be no load upon the hinge.The inner sill of the car is shown at 30 having a horizontal arm 3| uponwhich the posts 8 rest and are Secured thereto, as by the rivets 32. Tothe inner flange 33 of one of said posts 8 is secured the butt 34 of thehinge structure. In plan view (Figure 2) this butt is of channel shapecomprising spaced flanges 35 and 36 which extend inwardly and downwardlyspanning the gutter, II, and each preferably terminates in an arcuateedge 3l. Extending between and slightly beyond said arcuate edges 31 isan arm 38, in cross section of the same curvature as said edges 3l,formed integral therewith or welded thereto as preferred, which arm 38is in turn welded to the arcuate juncture of wall 2l of the gutter withthe ange 22 thereof. The web of said channel shaped hinge butt issecured, as by bolts 39, to the post 8 at a point above the outer wallI8 of the gutter. Spaced inwardly from the post 8 a suitable distanceand extending between the upper edges of said flanges 35 and 36, is thehinge pintle 40. Just inside of said pintle 40 the anges 35 and 36 areformed with aligned vertical shoulders 4I. The outer end of the stringer3 terminates adjacent said shoulder 4l and the lower edge of saidStringer is charnfered, as at 42, parallel with the inclination of theflanges 35 and 36 so as not to interfere with said arms when the rack isdown, as shown in Figure 1.

The hinge strap comprises a member having a flat strip-like portion 45bolted, as by bolts 46, to the chamfered end of stringer 3. Strap member45 is also provided with a shoulder 47 corresponding to and positionedadjacent shoulder 4I when rack is down. A laterally extending hollowsemicylindrically formed boss 48 extends between flanges 35-36 andpartially encircles pintle 411 upon the upper side thereof. Acooperative member 50 is provided at its upper end with a hollowsemi-cylindrical portion 5l which encircles the remainder of said pintled and completes a bearing thereabouts. Member 5U is held to shoulderedportion 4l' of strip 45 by means of bolts 52. It will be noted in Figure1 that the bearing is of larger diameter than that of the pin 4E) and isconcentric therewith, so that when the floor rack is down there is noweight at all on the hinge strap. When, however, the rack is raised thebearing 48-51 will rest and pvot upon the pin until the rack is againlowered.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinvention, though it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as itis obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of theclaims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A floor rack hinge structure for a railway refrigerator car having awall, vertical ues associated with said wall, a vertical post betweensaid lues, a floor having a gutter adjacent said wall and arranged toreceive liquid from said flues, and a iloor rack, said structurecomprising a butt and a strap, said butt spanning said gutter and havinga portion secured to said post above the gutter, and a portion supportedby said floor above the bottom of said gutter, said strap secured tosaid oor rack and hingedly attached to said butt.

2. A oor rack hinge structure for a rail-way refrigerator car having awall, a floor having a gutter adjacent said wall, and a oor rack, saidstructure comprising a butt and a strap, said butt spanning said gutterand having a portion secured to said wall above the gutter, and aportion supported by said floor above the bottom of said gutter, saidstrapsecured to said oor rack and hingedly attached to said butt.

3. A floor rack hinge structure for a railway refrigerator car having awall, a floor having a main part and a gutter having spaced sides, and aoor rack, said structure comprising a butt and a strap, said buttspanning said gutter and having a portion secured to said wall above thegutter, a portion supported by said oor at the juncture of said mainpart and said gutter, said strap secured to said ioor rack and hingedlyattached to said butt.

4. A floor rack hinge structure for a railway refrigerator car having awall, a floor, having a gutter adjacent said wall, and a oor rack, saidhinge structure comprising a butt and a strap, said butt spanning saidgutter and secured at one end to Said floor and at the other end to saidwall above said gutter, said strap secured to said rack and hingedlyattached to said butt intermediate 0f its ends.

VICTOR E. WEST.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Lundvall June 10, 1941Number

